Atomic Habits by James Clear - Book Review

Do you know the new habits you want to create but struggle with making them stick? Have you spent years unsuccessfully trying to break old habits? If so then Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear then might just be the book for you.

At the beginning of the book, James talks about how a sports injury and his recovery journey taught me a very important lesson. That lesson was that “changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years”.

Now, this isn’t a new theory. In fact, it is the premise for one of my favourite books The Compound Effect. However, it isn’t a theory that the masses have bought into or followed. The stories of overnight success mean that many are looking for a defining moment, which James warns against. He writes “It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis”.

The reason why we underestimate the value of small improvements is because the transformation is slow. People don’t see the results fast enough and believe it isn’t working. However, James truly believes that “Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-lifetime transformations” and through the book, he wants to show you how to change your habits so you too can increase your level of success.

In order to change your habits, you need to understand behaviour change. A habit follows a four-step process:

Cue
Craving
Response
Reward

James has then created four laws to directly work with the habit process in order for you to create a good habit or break a bad habit.

The next four chapters of the book go into each of the laws separately.

THE 1st LAW – MAKE IT OBVIOUS

James writes “One of our greatest challenges in changing habits is maintaining awareness of what we are actually doing.”. Habits are meant to happen on autopilot and therefore can happen unnoticed. However, whilst we are trying to build the new habit we need to stay conscious of the activity. One way to do this is via the Pointing-and-Calling, which was originally created as a safety system.

Habits start with a cue so when trying to create a new habit you need to decide on the cue. You can do this by creating a implementation intention. An example would be

“When situation X arises, I will perform response Y”.

To take this even further, James suggest using Habit Stacking. This is where you stack habits back to back. As a result, your implementation intention would be

“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].”

This is great for habits you are trying to add into your daily routine and would be a great way of building a new morning or nighttime routine.

THE 2nd LAW – MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE

If you want a habit to stick you have to make it attractive. James describes habits as a “dopamine-driven feedback loops” and highlights that “every behavior that is highly habit forming… is associated with higher levels of dopamine”. Therefore, when you are trying to create your own new habits you need to work out how you can ensure that dopamine is released. According to James, dopamine is released not once but twice during a habit cycle. It is “released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.” Therefore, you need to make the habit attractive enough you want to anticipate the experience.

One way to do this is through temptation bundling. This “works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do.” Temptation bundling can be added to habit stacking in order to make a powerful formula that addresses both laws. It would look like this

“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT].”

THE 3rd LAW – MAKE IT EASY

The third law is make it easy and this is because if a habit is easy you will do it and after enough repetition, it will become a habit. James is keen to push the point that when it comes to mastering a habit it isn’t about perfection, but repetition. Therefore, in order to ensure you repeat the action enough times James states that “is crucial to make your habits so easy that you’ll so them even when you don’t feel like it.”.

In this chapter, James talks about a lot about decisions. He discusses decisive moments and how one right choice can mean more right choices in the future. He also talks about a commitment device, which is a “choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future”. Two examples discussed in the book were how you can purchase food in single-portion sizes to ensure you don’t overeat or you could have a timer to automatically turn your internet off in the evening when you are meant to go to bed.

The point is not to rely on motivation and willpower, but to try as much as possible to make the habit easy.

THE 4th LAW – MAKE IT SATISFYING

Most people choose habits that are for their good so why don’t people stick to them. When it comes to return, our minds and bodies are deciding between immediate and delayed rewards. Most habits reward over the long-term (delayed rewards), but our brain is wired for immediate rewards.

If the habit you are trying to form is rewarding over the long-term you have to find a way to also make it rewarding in the short-term. James writes “the vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful”. One way to feel successful is to visually see how well you are performing your habit. This is where habit tracking comes into play. The book talks about people using paper clips in pots or a calendar. The emphasis is on having something visual that you allows you to quickly see how well you are doing.

ADVANCED TACTICS

The final section of the book looks at advanced habit tactics for those who want to go from good to truly great. I will not be sharing these in this review, but for anyone who decides to read the book James has laid out a plan for people at all levels of habit-forming.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There are lots of books that mention the importance of habits and habits is a big focus in the personal development world. I truly believe that habits make or break you but whilst books will tell you the habits you should embody they don’t often tell you HOW.

In Atomic Habits, James has managed to make it really simple to understand what you need to do in order to create a new habit.

WHO I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO

I would recommend Atomic Habits to anyone is wants to break an old habit or form a new habit. The book would work across all types of habits, whether personal or professional, and for people at all stages. Whilst the four laws are very simple, the addition of the advanced tactics means that virtually everyone should be able to find value from the book.

If you like the sound of Atomic Habits you can buy a copy for yourself by clicking here.